Human Saliva Molecule has Potential for Wound Healing

A study published online in The FASEB Journal delves into the mystifying fact that wounds in your mouth heal faster and more efficiently than wounds elsewhere. Until now, it was understood that saliva played a part in the wound healing process, though the extent of its role was unknown. The study examined the effects of salivary peptide histatin-1 on angiogenesis (blood vessel formation), which is critical to the efficiency of wound healing. Researchers found that histatin-1 promotes angiogenesis, as well as cell adhesion and migration.

“These findings open new alternatives to better understand the biology underlying the differences between oral and skin wound healing,” said Vicente A. Torres, Ph.D., associate professor at the Institute for Research in Dental Sciences within the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Chile in Santiago, Chile. “We believe that the study could help the design of better approaches to improve wound healing in tissues other than the mouth.”